Five Reasons to Make a Big Tech Change
Just because some tech is new and shiny, doesn’t mean you should have it. Like the latest iPhone, is it really that much better? A long time ago an acquaintance suggested to me to not change jobs unless I was getting a 50% pay raise. I think we can apply that to technology. Don’t change unless it is 50% better. That is not hard and fast, but something to consider. But what is better? Let’s consider better in price, functionality, efficiency, and measurement, and security. However, we have to remember that we can’t always separate these categories from each other.
Price
Price is easy. If you have two services or products that offer the same functionality, and one is significantly lower in price, don’t be daft, buy the cheaper one. On the other hand, why would you shell out to upgrade your phone if the new phone isn’t significantly faster.
Functionality
Paying more is fine if you are getting 50% more functionality or relevant functionality to your industry. You can do CRM for any industry with Hubspot, but perhaps there is a specific app that does it better for your practice. If you’ve followed this blog at all, you’ll know that we believe that Microsoft 365 is way more functional than Google Workspace; curiously they are identical in price.
Efficiency
Akin to functionality is efficiency. The question to ask is will this new application or new computer save me time? We sometimes run into a customer not wanting to buy a new computer, trying to save a buck, but not realizing all the time they are wasting because their computer is slow.
Measurement
I used to watch the G.I. Joe cartoon growing up. In the intro or outro G.I. Joe concluded with the statement, “and knowing is half the battle.” Making a technology change towards something that helps you measure better can be totally worth it. It is important to keep score; track customer service, track costs, revenue, and profit.
Security
Last, but not least, is security. I could have rolled this into Functionality, but it is so important. This change might not even cost you money, but even if it does, improvements in data security usually outweigh the cost or inconvenience. Improvements in security always, always, outweigh the cost of data loss.
One thing that costs no money to implement in technology security is multi factor authentication. This is where when you enter your username and password and then you get an email or text or use an app on your phone to get a code before you log in. Other names and acronyms for this are MFA, 2FA (two factor authentication), OTP (one time password), and TOTP (Time-Based One Time Password).
I’m not in favor of change for change sake, but when you can make a significant improvement, it is worth consideration. When a tech change significantly improves two or more categories, don’t delay.